Research Article

INDIVIDUAL QUALITY EVALUATION OF FEMALE EUROPEAN RED DEER (CERVUS ELAPHUS) BY BIOMETRIC MEASUREMENT

Piotr Czyżowski, Mirosław Karpiński, Leszek Drozd

Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy w Lublinie

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 7(3-4), 2008, 3‒10

Abstract. We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of biometric measurements for determining the individual condition of the European red deer Cervus elaphus. The study included 54 doe red deer obtained in autumn 2007 in Warmia-Mazury and Lubelszczyzna County, Poland. General measurements characterizing the development of particular body parts were taken into account during the evaluation: chest depth, chest width, and chest circumference. The measurement-based calculations allowed us to determine the chest capacitance index (CI) and we determined the variability between particular biometric measurements by calculating correlation coefficients. Division into 3 weight classes was accepted for this study. We confirmed differences in chest weight among doe red deer from the Lubelszczyzna and Warmia-Mazury areas of Poland. The correct estimate of the selection condition is very difficult, so divide for into 3 classes will very helpful. The chest capacitance index (CI) will be useful to evaluate individual red deer condition.

Keywords: biometric measurements, body mass, Cervus elaphus